HAMAMATSU, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Yamaha Corporation (hereinafter “Yamaha”) (TOKYO:7951) announces that on March 20, 2025, the Zhongshan Intermediate People's Court of Guangdong Province upheld the first-instance guilty verdicts in a criminal case against the individuals responsible for three Chinese companies involved in manufacturing and selling counterfeit Yamaha PA analog mixers.

Yamaha reported the three companies that were manufacturing and selling counterfeit versions of our PA analog mixers (model numbers: MG16XU and many others) in China to Chinese law enforcement authorities in July 2023, based on the design rights held by our company. The authorities conducted an investigation into the three companies in August 2023 and seized a large number of counterfeit products that served as evidence for the criminal charges.

In May 2024, the three companies were indicted by Chinese law enforcement authorities and fully admitted to the facts regarding the manufacture and sale of counterfeit products. In the first-instance judgment, the court ordered the cessation of the manufacture and sale of counterfeit products, and five defendants from the three companies were sentenced to imprisonment (three of which were suspended), along with fines proportional to the sales amount of the counterfeit products. Two of the defendants appealed the first-instance judgment, but the second-instance judgment upheld the first-instance judgment, and the penalties were finalized.

Yamaha Corporation has long taken various measures against counterfeit products such as civil action, crime detection, customs injunctions, and placed informative advertising in China and worldwide. In China, Yamaha has filed lawsuits against more than 10 companies that produce and sell counterfeit PA products for infringement of its trademark or design rights, including this lawsuit. In every court case, Yamaha’s claims were accepted, and the production and sale of low-quality counterfeit products were halted. Yamaha is adamantly resolved to confront any action that could damage the Yamaha brand or infringe on Yamaha intellectual property rights in order to protect its valued customers and stakeholders from low-quality counterfeit products and to preserve the reliability and trust in the Yamaha brands.